NAKAMURA Kazumi

A Bird in its Existence 107 (Phasianus colchicus) , 2006, acrylic on cotton, 260.1×190.8 cm, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

D a t e : Wed., March 19 — Mon., May 19, 2014

Closed on Tuesdays (except for April 29 and May 6, 2014) and May 7

Venue: The National Art Center, Tokyo, Special Exhibition Gallery 1E(Tokyo, Roppongi)

Organized by the National Art Center, Tokyo Hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (10:00 – 20:00 on Fridays)*Open until 22:00 on Sat., April 19, 2014 (Roppongi Art Night 2014) *Admission up to 30 minutes before closing

NAKAMURA
K a z u mi

Nakamura Kazumi (b. 1956) started his full-fledged career as a painter inthe early 1980s, and has been one of the most active among his generationof contemporary artists.
What is painting? For what purpose does it exist? Nakamura
started out to answer these questions by studying the Abstract
Expressionist paintings of artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko,and Barnett Newman, whose works were considered to represent theculmination of modernist painting in the West, while pursuing a new
type of painting and theory to supersede them. References in the spatialexpression and symbolism of traditional Eastern painting such as Japanese
ancient and medieval painting, Chinese Song Dynasty landscape painting,and Korean folk painting, were of particular interest to Nakamura. In the1980s, he had already put forth his “differential painting” idea, based on
his perception that the meaning of a painting exists only in reference
to its differences with other paintings. He produced paintings in series,
developing a number of works displaying differences on a single motif.
In his A Bird in its Existence series that is representative of his recent work,
Nakamura creates a new type of painting, difficult to categorize as either
abstract or figurative, by basing a variety of painting and brushstroke
techniques on a matrix that recalls the structure of pictograph characters.
Along with introducing a comprehensive overview of Nakamura
Kazumi’s paintings through around 150 paintings spanning from hisstudent works to his most recent Hijiri (Hermit) series, the exhibition also
introduces his diagonal grid Wall Painting, conceived in 2010 and shown
now for the first time. The exhibition will provide an excellent opportunity
to consider an aspect of the development of Japanese contemporary
painting and art.

Nakamura Kazumi
Nakamura Kazumi was born in Chiba in 1956. Hereceived the Masters of Fine Arts degree in oil painting
from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music(current Tokyo University of the Arts). When he began
exhibiting at the beginning of the 1980s, he gained
attention with his expressionist style “Y” shape motif
paintings. Following that, he produced in succession
his Diagonal Grid, C Opened, Ranging Difference – Broken
Shelter, Broken Hermitage, Saisoro, Shokusocho (Phoenix) , andother series. He has been tirelessly and dynamically
exploring the meaning of pictorial space, producing
more than 1200 paintings to date. Nakamura has
had many group and solo exhibitions as a leading
Japanese contemporary painter and his works are in
the collections of major Japanese museums. He has
also had solo museum shows at the Sezon Museum ofModern Art (1999) and at the Iwaki City Art Museum(2002). In overseas exhibitions, he has participated ingroup shows such as the Europaria Japan ’89 (1989) andJapan Art Today (1990-91) exhibition that toured northernEurope. In recent years, he has been exhibiting in
East Asia, particularly in Korea and China. He has also
published a book of theoretical essays on painting, Tokasuru hikari Nakamura Kazumi chosaku senshu (Filtered light: aNakamura Kazumi anthology) (Reifu Shobo, 2007).

6.
Saisoro 67 (Old Man of Oseyachi)
2001
Acrylic, water color and pebble on cotton
290×250 cm
Private collection

I

Section

Painting as SpaceY Shape/ Diagonal Grid/ C Opened

Nakamura started his career as a painter in the 1980s. He first gained recognition for
his Y Shape motif paintings done in bold vertical brushstrokes filling a rectangular
picture surface with very simple abstract forms in shapes suggesting trees, inparticular the mulberry tree. The mulberry provides nourishment to silkworms andthus evokes images of Japanese culture and the Japanese environment. It also
directly relates to Nakamura’s identity, as his mother’s family had been engaged insericulture.
The Diagonal Grid series is made up of a repeated overlapping “Y” shapes.
Nakamura was highly evaluated abroad for his realization of this particular sense ofspace, with shifting horizontal deviations rather that a fixed center point, taking as
his reference the representation of lattice shutters in the illustrated hand scroll of
the Diary of Lady Murasaki (Murasaki Shikibu Nikki).
The dynamic C Opened series Nakamura did from the 1990s sought tobreak step with the Diagonal Grid series and achieved spatial volume through use ofan arc shape.

2.
Orange Plate
1986
Oil on cotton
240×180 cm
The National Museum ofArt, Osaka

3.
Reclining Buddha I
1992-93
Oil on cotton
190×400 cm
Private collection(deposited at Museumof Contemporary ArtTokyo)

1.
Mt. Kitaokusenjo, 1985
Oil on canvas, 400×138 cm
Collection of the artist (deposited at Iwaki
City Art Museum)

II

Section

Painting as Social Semantics

Ranging Difference – Broken Shelter/ Broken Hermitage/Saisoro/ Mourning for the Dead

Around the beginning of the 1990s, Nakamura started thinking deeply
about the social nature of painting. With the thaw in international
affairs following the end of the cold war, Nakamura contemplated thefunction and meaning of painting and realized works that represented
and were critical of increasing alienation in the world, the complex
entanglement of the capitalist economic system, and oppositionsbetween differing nationalisms and religions.
Nakamura’s series Ranging Difference – Broken Shelter has
references to the expression of disjointed architecture as depictedin the Seion-ji temple ‘origins of shrines and temples’ (Seion-ji engi)
genre of paintings from the Northern and Southern Court (MuromachiNanboku-cho) period. In contrast to works Nakamura had done tothis point, these paintings are suffused with a sense of disquieting
dynamism created by an intentional collapse of spatial continuity.
The Broken Hermitage series that follows further advances this direction
by expanding the diagonal grid spatial quality to three-dimensions,and adding a dilapidated refuge hut nestled at the mountain summit,
giving them the character of, according to Nakamura’s description,“paintings about all kinds of broken construction.” Saisoro (lit.: anold man picking a mulberry leaves) is an ancient court dance music(gagaku) piece, but few will dance it because of traditionally ominous
overtones signifying the imminent approach of death. The paintings
in this series are suggestive of the forms of an agile dancer, and theimages of an old person, a sage old man or priest in the Eastern sense,
are associated with upright trees that start out as “Y” shapes. In theMourning for the Dead series,
Nakamura tries to realize
expressions of mourningand repose of souls for all
who have died in this world.

4.
Ranging Difference - Broken Shelter
XI (Slanting Spirit)
2002
Acrylic on cotton
400×900 cm
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art

5.
Broken Hermitage 29 (Mt. Okuhijiri)
1997
Oil and acrylic on cotton
260.2×570 cm
Iwaki City Art Museum

7.
A Man Standing by the Purple Rapids Mourning for the Dead
2001-02
Acrylic on cotton
290.3×240.2 cm
Sezon Museum of Modern Art

IIISection

Paintings as Birds

Shokusocho (Phoenix)/ A Bird in its Existence/ Hijiri (Hermit)

The expression ‘Shokusocho’ was coined by Nakamura. It is
composed of a combination of the Japanese characters for‘bird’ ‘weaves’ and ‘mulberry,’ and can be interpreted as thePhoenix. In the Saisoro and the Mourning for the Dead series,
Nakamura deepened his thinking on the theme of death inpainting, and takes on in this series the implications of deathand the rebirth. From the mid-2000s Nakamura moved tothe theme of ‘a bird and its existence.’
Nakamura said, “The paintings in the series A Bird inits Existence are about flight in all existence. ‘To be’ means ‘tofly;’ only things that fly can exist.” In this series, in paintingsof birds, Nakamura reached what he was seeking for in themeaning of painting against the backdrop of world miseryfrom repeated disasters, wars, and terrorism. There are
more than 300 paintings in the A Bird in its Existence series,
Nakamura’s largest series to date. In this series, he createdvaries types of paintings based on several patterns takenfrom prototypical bird images, such as found in Korean folk
painting, Archaeopteryx (extinct early genus of birds) fossils,
or in pictographs. The equation of the bird with existencethat Nakamura relates may be precisely the meaning for himof painting itself.
His Hijiri (Hermit) series, first exhibited in 2013,is Nakamura’s latest work. Buddhist sacred images that
Nakamura occasionally used in paintings to date, traversing
A Bird in its Existence , may be seen to appear as a figurativematrix.

9. A Bird in its Existence 107 (Phasianus colchicus), 2006, acrylic on cotton
260.1×190.8 cm, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

8. Shokusocho IV (Phoenix IV), 2002, acrylic, mud and galvanized foil oncotton, 300.1×240.2 cm, Collection of the artist

10. A Bird in its Existence 239 (Erithacus cyanurus), 2008-09, acrylic oncotton, 292.2×218 cm, Utsunomiya Museum of Art

Tickets (tax. incl.)
General: ¥1,000 (Adults) / ¥500 (College Students)
Advance: ¥800 (Adults) / ¥300 (College Students)
Group: ¥800 (Adults) / ¥300 (College Students)*Free admission on Sat., April 19, 2014 in conjunction with
“Roppongi Art Night 2014” and Sun., May 18, 2014 forInternational Museum Day.
*Visitors who are under 18, including high school students
and disabled people with ID booklets (along with oneassistant) will be admitted free.
*Tickets (both Advance and General) are available throughTicket Pia (P-Code: 765-908), and Lawson Ticket (L-Code:36767). Service charges may apply.
*Advance tickets can be purchased through the above
services from Sat., November 9, 2013 to Tue., March 18,
2014, but will only be available at the National Art Center,
Tokyo from Wed., December 11, 2013 to Mon., March 17,2014.
*Group tickets will only be available at the venue (discounts
only applicable to groups of 20 or more).
*Visitors who present a ticket or ticket stub from anotherexhibition currently underway at the National Art Center,
Tokyo, the Suntory Museum or the Mori Art Museum (thethree facilities that make up the Roppongi Art Triangle) will
be eligible for the group discount.
*Visitors 65 and over (ID with proof of age required) who
present a ticket stub from artist’s associations’ exhibition
held at the art center during NAKAMURA Kazumi exhibition
will be admitted to the exhibition at the college-student
group rate.

For inquiries or more information,please contact:
Ishimatsu (Ms.), Kikuchi (Ms.), or Kiryu (Ms.)
Public Relations Division
The National Art Center, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)3-6812-9925, Fax: +81 (0)3-3405-2532
E-mail: pr@nact.jp

The National Art Center, Tokyo
7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 106-8558, Japan
Tel: +81 (0)3-5405-8686 (Hello Dial)
Website: http://www.nact.jp/Related Events
Talk Event
NAKAMURA Kazumi
Date: Sat., April 26, 2014
Venue: 3F Auditorium, The National Art Center, TokyoWorkshop
Date: Sat., May 10, 2014
*Details on related events will be released as they arefinalized. For the latest information, please visit the NationalArt Center, Tokyo website.

Exhibition held in the same period
The Power of Images: The National Museum of Ethnology
Collection
Wed., February 19 - Mon., June 9, 2014

AccessDirect access from Exit 6 (in the direction of Aoyama
Cemetery) of Nogizaka Station on the Chiyoda Line of theTokyo Metro
5-min. walk from Exit 4a of Roppongi Station on the Hibiya
Line of the Tokyo Metro
4-min. walk from Exit 7 of Roppongi Station on the Toei
Oedo subway lineNAKAMURA Kazumi

Captions for PR Images

We are pleased to offer a number of images of the works on display to help promote the exhibition. If you would like to receive one (or more), please fillout the attached form and return it to us by fax (e-mail requests will also be honored).

1
Mt. Kitaokusenjo
1985
Oil on canvas
400×138 cm
Collection of the artist (deposited at Iwaki City ArtMuseum)

2
Orange Plate
1986
Oil on cotton
240×180 cm
The National Museum of Art, Osaka

3
Reclining Buddha I
1992-93
Oil on cotton
190×400 cm
Private collection (deposited at Museum ofContemporary Art Tokyo)

4
Ranging Difference - Broken Shelter XI (Slanting Spirit)
2002
Acrylic on cotton
400×900 cm
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art

5Broken Hermitage 29 (Mt. Okuhijiri)
1997
Oil and acrylic on cotton
260.2×570 cm
Iwaki City Art Museum

6
Saisoro 67 (Old Man of Oseyachi)
2001
Acrylic, water color and pebble on cotton
290×250 cm
Private collection

7
A Man Standing by the Purple Rapids Mourning for the Dead
2001-02
Acrylic on cotton
290.3×240.2 cm
Sezon Museum of Modern Art

8
Shokusocho IV (Phoenix IV)
2002
Acrylic, mud and galvanized foil on cotton
300.1×240.2 cm
Collection of the artist

9A Bird in its Existence 107 (Phasianus colchicus)
2006
Acrylic on cotton
260.1×190.8 cm
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

10
A Bird in its Existence 239 (Erithacus cyanurus)
2008-09
Acrylic on cotton
292.2×218 cm
Utsunomiya Museum of Art

NAKAMURA Kazumi

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For inquiries or more information, please contact:
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Public Relations Division, The National Art Center, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)3-6812-9925, Fax: +81 (0)3-3405-2532, E-mail: pr@nact.jp